Printer format control system



Fell 24, 1959 J. GOLDBERG- ET A1. 2,874,633

PRINTER FORMAT CONTROL SYSTEM Feb.. 24, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 5, 1957 Q Il Feb. 24, 1959 ,GQLDBERG ET AL A 2,874,633

PRINTER FORMAT CONTROL SYSTEM 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Feb. 5, 1957 Feb. 24, 1959 .1. GOLDBERG ET AL v 2,874,633

l PRINTER FORMAT CONTROL SYSTEM I Filed Feb. 5, 1957 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 BY y 0W United States Patenti() i PRINTER. FORMAT CONTROL SYSTEM Jacob Goldberg and Bonner Cox, Palo Alto, Calif., as-

signors, by mesne assignments, toV General' Electric Company, Newl York, N. Y., a corporation of New York ApplicationFehruary 5, 1957Serial No. 638,407 v 6 Claims.` (Cl. 101e-93) This invention relates to'output printer control apparatus employed in information-handling lmachines and, more particularly, to an improvement'in 'the formatl control of such outputprinters.

Output printers Vare employed with informationQhan'- dling machines for the purposer of ,printing output of the results produced by the machine after it has operated upon the data which was put intotit. Outputprinters are also used to obtain status reports where a machine is used for inventory control or, in some instances, for bookkeeping activities. Where large amounts of data are printed out, high-speed output printers are employed. One of the high-speed printers commonlyused is the type which'employs the rotatingcylinder, or drum, having columns of type on its periphery.v At aprintinglposition, `an'inked. ribbonV is passed adjacent' the printing cylinder and paper ispas'sed adjacent. the' inked'. ribbon. The paper and ribbon are moved slowly a line space fat ,a time, and the drum is rotated at high speed. "Means are provided for electrically indicating'vthe typefwliich vi`s a't the printing position. A solenoid-actuated .hammer is provided for each type bar in a column of type. Thus, if in a line ofY data to vbe printed out, the type `character which is at the printing positionis required for several 2,874,633 Patented Feb. 24, 1959 2 is possible to print in a given line' eighty characters.` Wherefthe output material is in narrative form, `iturray be necessary to use most of the eighty characters. `In this instance, the storage registers required for 'the operation of the system must have a capacity for all the data required for each .line to beA printed. The-usual mode for operating the solenoid-actuated hammersl is to have a` thyratron connected to the hammers so that when, as the result of a comparison,v an identity is established, the thyratron is red. Thus,.for this type o'f output printing, an 80-character register and 80 thyratrons are required. However, vin the normal course of business activity, a

Y narrative type of output is not required. The output of the words to be printed along. the line, the corre sponding solenoid-actuated .hammers are excited and they push the paper in .their respective location against theA inked ribbon and type bar to therebyitnprintthelletter or character on .the paper. i

The data 4which is sought to .be printed .out on the high-speed printer is usually contained. within the information-handling .machine in .a .coded formf .on .some storage device. This storage device .may take `the form of magnetic tape or perforated paper tape. It may also include magnetic cores and Vmagnetic drums. In any event, the present practice for presenting this coded data for the purpose of being printed out is to enter it into storage registers, a line ofitemsof data at a time. Means are provided for comparing all the characters within the data items stored in the register with the information derived from the type drum as :tofthe character appearing in the column of type Aatv theprinting position. When as a Vresult of such, comparison an identity between the type at the printing position ,and the characters required which are stored in the register occurs, the solenoids at the respective positions vwithin a line for that particular character are actuated. A Apreferred Varrangement for actuating an output printer from: data vstored within information-handling machines is shown,` described, and claimed Vin -an application by 'Jacob' Goldbergv and Bonnar "Cox for Electronic Apparatus .for 'High'Speed Printers, SerialNo. ,606,410,1le'd August 27, 1.1936, .now U. S. lPatent No. 2,799,222, and assigned to a common assignee. f

In. a. high-speedoutput printerf which presently is, being manufactured and sold.c on1me'rcially, v thereltare provided Vin'eachcolunmfzof type eighty .type-characters TI`hus,=it

printer is usually required to lprint theinformation' in some type of format employed in a business. These can be the book-keeping typeof format with debits and credits printed out side by side, or the banking type` of format where credits, dbits, anda current balance are printed within previously designated spaces. These types of output data are in formatswhich are not` characters wide. It would appear, therefore, that it-is1asimplematter to merely reduce-the size of the register andl thenumber` of outputcontrolled thyratrons to the number re` quired for handling the particular forms. However, this leads to anV inflexible device in that changes., or additions, in formsV do occur yin business and' without extensive reworkingV of the high-speed printer connections, 'the output printer may not be suitable to 'handle all the/forms required.

An object 'of the `present-invention iis' theeprovision of a.

data vbe `stored 'in a medium such as a magnetic drum,

or'm'a'gnetic tape, it iscusto'mary'to'store such data .ina form known. as parallel-serial. That is, each character man alpha-numeric code may consist of several binary digits, known hereafter as bits, which are adjacent paralleltracks on the tape. Thus, if fentry of a wordis 'from left to right using. parallel-serial storage on tape, .the readout from the 'tape when converted into the human language Vformrwill be reversed. For example,jthe word. chairffl unless `care' "is taken to ,provideV the necessary reversal somewhere within the system, .will be printed out as riahc. Similarly, Aa value, such as 607, is printed out as 706.

' A further object of thepresent invention is' to provide a format control circuit which enables the rearrangement of items to be properly readable. These 'and-other yobjects of the invention are achieved by'providing a formatcontrol system which is .operated respon'sveto symbols'whi'ch are employed with Iitems to identify `the `die'rent kinds of items. Thus, by way of illustration-and not `to be considered as a limitation, .as sumng anin'formationlhandling machine 'is employed in the 'banking business, 'it will .handle credits' andr debits usuallyv pretxedby 1a r'plus 'sign and a minus sign, respectively. Arplurality of storage registers are employed, each of'whichis assigned items which are tobe printed at rfa 'different' location'along th'e'line. The-recognition ofv an itemby its symbol enables the routing ofnithat item to a particular storage register, so thatthe'item maybe printed at that portion of a line which has been assigned to items of that type within the form to be printed.

A plurality of means are provided for energizing the solenoids of the print hammers. These means may be the thyratron tubes. There are fewer of these, however, than therev are hammers. Each register has a group of these thyratrons associated therewith. There is also provided a means for selectively coupling each of the thyratrons to a different one of the print hammer solenoids responsive to the identifying symbol of an item entered into the register with which such group is associated. This means may be, for example, a selectively actuated crossbar switch which enables the rearrangement of the contents of a register for printing out at a predetermined portion along the line. There is also provided counting means which counts the number of items of each different type which are entered into the registers. In accordance with predetermined form requirements, when the count reaches a predetermined number, the printer is actuated to print out the contents of the register and no new data is entered until such time as the printer has completed its operation.

The novel features that are considered characteristic of this invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention itself, both as to its organization and method of operation, as well as additional objects and advantages thereof, will best be understood from the following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 illustrates a typical layout on a memory, such as magnetic tape, of data desired to be printed out on an output printer;

Figure 2 illustrates a typical form to be printed out from the data illustrated in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the invention;

Figure 4 is a block diagram of a symbol recognition circuit suitable for use in the embodiment of the invention;

Figure 5 is a block diagram of a typical data-routing circuit suitable for use in the embodiment of the invention;

Figure 6 is a block diagram of an arrangement of format control relays suitable for use in the embodiment of the invention; and

Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of a crossbar relay showing its utilization in coupling thyratrons to hammers to achieve format control in accordance with this invention.

In order to facilitate an explanation of the format control principles involves in this invention, the invention will be described in connection with an operation in the banking field, wherein the activity of each depositors account is printed out.y This type of information is obtained when it is desired to see what activity has occurred in the accounts of depositors with the bank. This illustration is not to be construed as a limitation on the invention, since from the following description those skilled in the art may readily appreciate how this invention can be extended for other formats and for other businesses.

In this connection, it is assumed that the informationhandling machine is of a type which has, for example, as the internal memory, a magnetic tape recording arrangement. On that tape is recorded the name of each depositor, the transactions for that depositors account, and other associatedinformation. When an activity printout is requiredthe.output printer is actuated, as well as the sourceY ofdata, namely, the magnetic tape, so that the output printed material will contain the name of the depositor, the transactions occurring in his account, consisting of debits and credits,v and also an .item count, which is merely a-total of all the debits and credits which have occurred. vThis information c an serve as the basis for a service charge by the bank.l

Reference is now made to Figure 1, which shows the manner in which the information is recorded on tape. Obviously, the information is recorded in a coded form and is not written, as shown in Figure l. However, in-

order to assist in an explanation of the invention, the

tape sections 10A and 10B shown in Figure l illustrate the arrangement which the coded information would take. Thus, the tape section 10A, for any given depositor, will contain the following information. First, there will be a code symbol here represented by a lambda, followed by the first name of the depositor. Then will be a second code symbol lambda, indicative of a name item, followed by the second name. If a third name were present, then the lambda would precede that third name. Thus, the name John Doe, as shown in the tape section 10B, requires two lambda symbols. After the area of the tape reserved for the name, the transactions involved follow. Thus, John Doe has had two debit items, indicative of the fact that two withdrawals were made, and two credit items, indicative of the fact that two de posits were made. AEach debit item-is preceded by a symbol representative of a minus; each credit item is preceded by a symbol representative of a plus. In the illustrative example, the first debit is 326, the second -874; the first credit is +523, the second is +049. The characters are read in time sequence from left to right on the illustration. Dollar values are recorded with leastsignificant digit first, in order to simplify arithmetic operations. Thus, the amounts being handled are $6.23; $4.78; $3.25; and $9.40. As will be pointed out later, one of the advantages of the format control system, which embodies this invention, is that there is no need for the carrying within the information-handling machine of the decimal point. This will be supplied by the format control.A At theend of the space allotted for transactions, there will exist a location known as the item-count location. The item-count location will have a symbol 1, followed by an item number which is the total number of transactions which have occurred.

In the printing out of this information, certain rules for the format are specified. The rst rule is that there shall not be any more than three words or items per line; there may be less. A second requirement on the form is that there shall not be more than one credit item per line. A third rule is that there may be one or two debits maximum per line. A fourth rule is that there shall only be one item count ou a line. Another requirement is that there shall be three name words per line wherever possible and a last requirement is that no items shall appear on the same line as a name word. These rulesare represented in the table form below:

D D C debits andY one credit. It should be notedthat the decimalpoints and the spaces, between thedebits and credits are provided by the format control apparatus, in accordance with thisinvention. Thus, there is no burden placed upon the information-handling' machine storage facilities toprovide spacing and decimal point information. On the next line there appears the second credit underneath the rst credit. On the last line there appears the item count. It should be appreciated that the arrangement shown in Figure 2 may be extended to include other information, such as balance remaining Vat the end of the activity, any special charges to be included as debits, and possibly the account number or the address for the particular depositor in addition to his name. From a description of the invention which` follows, it will become clear, how to make provision for format control, using any desired disposition of the information to be written and also using any desired rules as to the sequence on a line of information-msm providing for the orientation of the item letters within each, the type of information on a line, and the amount of information of any particular type on a line. v t

Figure 3 is. a block diagram of an` embodiment of the invention. A source of data 20 provides as its output coded signals representative of the information to beiv printed out. i This source of data may be the magnetic vtape of the type shown in Figure 1. A requirement for the data in accordance with this invention is that there be included a means of recognizing the types ofritems of data which are to be printed out. Onerecognition arrangement in accordance With this explanation and as shown in Figure l, is a symbol which precedes the particular item. In accordance with the illustration used herein the symbol consists of a lambda, the minus or plus sign, and an I. The means of recognition can also be the length of the item words or Vits physical Vlocation relative to -other items on thetape or within the memory used to retain the rsource of data.

For the purposes of this ex'pl'anatioma symbol senser l22 senses the loutput from the source of data 20,l The symbol s'enser recognizes the particular type of data 'which is being emitted vfrom the source and applies this recognition output to a data-routing circuit Z4 yand also to a rectangle labeled `'fo'rrnat-matrix-contr'ol relays '26.

These format-'matrix-control vrelays'are operated vto A evs- -tablishpredetermined connections in a format matrix Q8. The output of the Vdata-routing*circuit is applied to a "plurality of And gates 30, 32, 34. Only one of these nd 'formation which is tofbeprinted at the beginning jof ia line, register 42 lis assigned information fwhich is jtoV be printed in the middle of a line, and register 44y is )assigned information which is to` be printed at -the end of a line. The function of the Vdata-routing circuit is to enterthe data into the particular register to assure print-outof that data at the location in accordance with format -requirements. It Vshould be further noted, however, that the location of the printingof the data in the registers may be made subject topany desired ifurther modifications by the format matrix 23. p

A rectangle labeled output .printer 46 represents the rotatingcylinder, or drurnwhich has thertype columns on its periphery. lAta printingnposition, printing occurs. The output printer also hashammers which areV separately `actuated by solenoids when-it is desiredgto printa particular character. AThe 'colurnn of type at the print location is identified by means of informations-proyided from` either markings `on thetype drum periphery or an osmose A rectangle identified as the printing-wheel -data 48'V represents any of the Well-known arrangements forA ide'ntifying the type at the printing position to enable print out. The registers 4t), 42, 44 are known as circulating registers, and they circulate their contents once for each type character while the output printer drum goes through a complete revolution. 'Ihe paper on which the printL ing occurs only advances the distance for a single line' after the output printer has made its first revolution. Since the registers are only loaded with information to venable the print-out of a single line, it will be seen that by circulating their contents once for each typelcharacter at the printing position, a single line of information is printed out. y

The circulating registers have their contentscompared with the printing wheel data by means of a comparator 5b.: When, as a result of a comparison, it is established that characters in the register are the same as `the one present atV the print-'out position, thenv one or more thyratrons 52, 54, 56 are tired. Each tired thyratron, inturn, pulls currentr through the solenoid in the corresponding position in the output printer and a'ctuates the hammer, whereby the printing of a character is 'made initsproper position.

In the usual case, there is a one-to-one relationship between the thyratron' and the solenoid-actuated hammer, so that when a character inthe fifth position along thelline is identiiiedas being present at the print-out position, the fifth thyratron is excited and actuates the fifth' solenoid for print-out. ln the ,present invention, however, there is no such assignment of thyratro'ns to hammers. Although, for example, an output printer may have characters in a column of type and 80 solenoid-actuated hammers, the lnumber of thyratrons and the register 'cae pacity required is far less than this. The number of thyratrons and register capacity, in accordance with the present invention, should only equal the maximum num'- ber of items to` be ,printed on 'a line within a particular' form., Thus, in an "embodiment Vof the invention which was builtfor banking practices, only 36 thyratrons were required, and the register capacity was that fo'r 36 characters. The 'format-switching matrix performed the function of switching the thyratrons to c'onnec'tfthem to whichever ones' vof the Voutput printer solenoids were required 'inthe particu-lar Vformat which was to he 'emi ployed.- It is therefore evident Ahow the apparatus may be employedto provide considerable ilexibili-t'y finv the :format of the information printed out. It may also :be seen that the amount of apparatus actually required :is 'considerably reduced `from that Ausually Vemployed 1in these systems.

The symbol senser 22isalso called a code-'recognition circuit. Itis Well known inthe artand `is sh'own, 4for example, in Patent lNo. :2,648,829 to `Ayres 'and -Smi'th. 'To complete Vthis explanation, Figure 4 .is a block da gram of vacOde-recOgnition circuit suitable `for utilization in theeinbddirnent ofthe invention. Assuming 'arrcod'e having'ffour binary digits, orffour bits, the symbol lambda may be represented by 1100. The symbol -l-.may b'e represented by 1010. Thesymbol minus 'maybe represented by 0011, and the symbol- I by 01110.

Afs shown in-Figure-"li, 4four reading 'ampliersl fi62, 6:4, and 'H66 `are r veiriployed, leach one of 'which is con` 'netted to 'the reading head (not shown) over fone Tof the parll'eltraelt's'on-the tape. The fo'utp'ut of 'th'esefou'r reading heads reT-appli'edtofouripflopfircuit 70,72-, 74, k76.v Theseip-op circuits, 'asis'well Lknown,`lr e Ytwo 'stable states, VVthe "first ot "which iis known `as far rj'es'e't through '166 are appiie fs 'there 'tout "nipjlnop' emailtje v7 through 76. In the presence of a one, the flipaffop circuit is driven from its reset to its set condition. In the presence of a zero, it is not so driven. Instead, it remains in its reset condition. Between each reading of a character on tape, consisting of four bits, the reset pulse is applied to reset the ip-op circuits 70 through 76 so that they are in condition for the next reading.

Now, looking at the coded arrangement of the symbols, it can be seen that the symbol lambda is characterized by the sequence 1100. The symbol plus is characterized by the sequence 1010. The symbol minus is characterized by the sequence 0011. And the symbol I is characterized by the sequence 0110. Thus, all that is required for the symbol-sensing arrangement is to sense the coincidence of the appropriate groupings of one and zero positions in the outputs of the flip-flops 70 through 76.

And gate 80, accordingly, requires, in order to produce an output, that a one be present in the two highest-order digit positions, or that flip-flops 70 and 72 be set and that zero be present in the two lowest-order digit positions, or that flip-flops 74 and 76 be reset. And gate 82 requires that a one be present in the second and third digit positions and a zero be present in the first and third positions, or that flip-flops 72 and 74 are set and 70 and 76 be reset, and then it will produce an output. And gate 84 requires an input from the set states of flip-flops 70 and 74 and the reset states of 72 and 76 before it produces an output indicative of the presence of a plus symbol. And gate 86 requires the flip-flops 74 and 76 to be in their set conditions and flip-flops 70 and 72 to be in their reset conditions, whereupon it provides an output indicative of a minus symbol.

The outputs from the symbol senser are applied both .'to the data-routing circuit 24 and to the format-matrixcontrol relays 26. Figure is a block diagram of the data-routing circuits. An Or gate 100 receives the output from all of the And gates 80 through 86 shown in Figure 4. The output of the Or gate is applied to an And gate 102. This And gate requires as its second input before it can advance a following ring counter 104 from its zero, lor standby state, the one or set output from a load flip-flop 106. This load flip-flop 106 is set by the application of a master start pulse which initiates the operation of the system. This pulse may be manually or automatically produced from the information-handling machine. The master-start pulse is applied t-o an 0r gate 108. This Or gate also receives as its alternative input a pulse from the output printer indicative of the fact that a whole line has been printed and, therefore, a print cycle is ended. The output of the Or gate 108 is applied to an And gate 110. A second enabling input to the And gate 110 is a clock pulse from a clock-pulse source, not shown. The clock-'pulse `source is the Ywellknown source of synchronizing pulses which are used in present-day information-handling machines to synchronize the operation of the system. Thus, following the application of either a master-start pulse. or a pulse from the output printer indicative of the fact that it has completed printing a line, the load flip-flop will be driven to its set condition.

The output of the load flip-flop 106 is applied to enable the And gate 102, and also, as signified by the label external load command, to. signal to the apparatus in the information-handling machines, which in Figure 3 is represented as source of data 20, that the output printer is now ready to receive data. Thus, when the data begins to flow into this apparatus, And gate 102 is in condition to advance the counter 104 to itsrst count from zero count each time a symbol output is received from the symbol senser as well as word digit pulses. The counter advances a count for each digit in an itemread from the tape. Thus, on the basis that a four-digit fixed word. length for each item (filled out lby zeros where needed) is employed, the counter need only count four.

Its fourth count signifies the end of the inputword. Thus, counter 104 is a digit counter and goes through a complete cycle of counts for each word that is read. Its last, or fourth, count signifies the end of a word. It should 'be appreciated that the number of counter stages may be varied, as required. A preferred type of ring counter is described and shown in an application for a Gated-Delay C-ounter, by James E. Heywood, Serial No. 400,645, filed December 28, 1953, and assigned to a common assignee. In any event, the output of each stage of the counter, aside from the zero or standby stage, is applied to an Or gate 112. The output of this Or gate 112 is applied as an enabling input to an And gate 114. The output of And gate 114 represents the data being supplied from the data source. Accordingly, the second input to the And gate 114 is data from the source 20. The output of And gate 114 is fed to three And gates 30, 32, 34, which will be recognized as the And gates shown in Figure 3, which are controlled by the output of the data-routing circuit 24.

The output of the And gate (Figure 3), consisting of a signal whenever a lambda appears, is applied to an And gate 116. This And gate has as its second required input the output of an inverter 120, which occurs when there is no input to the inverter. Expressed alternatively, inverter 120, whenever an input is received from an Or gate 118, inhibits And gate 116. The input to the Or gate 118 consists of the output of any of the counting stages of the counter 121 when a count is entered in the counter. Counter 121 consists of three flip-flops which, at standby, are all in their reset conditions. At this time, no output is applied to the Or gate 118. The flip-flops following the first stage are set successively upon the lambda being applied to the counter stages-only a stage following a set stage 'being set by the lambda and the preceding stage being reset. A counter of this type is shown in the above-noted application for a Gated-Delay Counter. The reason the counter has three counting stages is that in accordance with the rules previously set forth three name words maximum may occupy any one line. Thus, each time a lambda symbol pulse yis received, the counter 121 is advanced one count.

The set output from the first count stage of counter 121 is applied to an Or gate 122. This Or gate provides the second required input to the And gate 30, so that the characters which follow the lambda signal will be entered into the first circulating register 40. The set output of the second count stage of the counter 121 enables And gate 32 through an Or gate 124. Therefore, the characters of the second name word which follows the second lambda will be entered through the And gate 32 into the second register 42. The third lambda transfers the counter to its third count condition, whereupon an Or gate 126 is enabled to apply an output to the And gate 34, whereby the data will be directed to enter the circulating register 44. The counter 121 will remain in its third count condition until llip-op 106 is reset. The reset output of flip flop 106 is applied to reset the counter through a clear Or gate 107.

It should be noted thatalong with the counter 121 the counter 104 will be counting. When the fourth count condition signifying the end of the input word has been reached, the output of the counter 104, which occurs after the last digit of the last name word, is applied to an And gate 12S. The second required input for this And gate 128 is received from the output of Or gate 126, which occurs when lambda counter 121 is in its'third counting condition. And gate 128 applies its output to an Or gate 130. The output of Or gate 130 is applied to an And gate 132, which, upon receiving a clock pulse from the synchronizing pulse source, resets the load flip-flop 106, thereby terminating the further entry of data at that time into the data-routing circ-uit.

' The output of Or gate 130 is applied to another And gate 134; This And gate, upon receiving a clock pulse',

,aa-naat sets a print flip-hop 136. The output of the printip- :li'op,`upo1" being set, commands the output printer sysf 'tcm to c orjnmence the operaion of printing `out the information which is contained in the registers.` This involves the-circulating of the contents of thlewregister'and the comparison of them with the printing-wheel data. Upon the end of the printing cycle occurring, the endprint` cycle output is received and applied' to the Or gate 108 and to Van And gate 13S. TheAndgate' 13?? resets the print ip-op when a next cliocl-pulseoccurs. The 'output of the Or gate 16S sets the load flip-hop, whereupon the next output from the data source may be loaded into the registers( What has just been described is the way in which name words are handled. Assume that two debits now occur. The output of the And gate $6 in Figure 4, which is a debit signal,`is applied both to the counter 10,4 and to Van And' gate 140. The output of the And gate 14d* receives as its second enabling input the output of an inverter n142. A two-stage counter 144, which ,isV identical with the counter 121 described previously, supplies output'from each count stage when set to an Or gate 146.' The output of this Or' gate 146 is applied tothe inverter `142. This inverter will therefore inhibit And gate 140 so long as the counter is in an other-than-z'erof count condition. The counter advances each time an advancing pulse is Aapplied to the various stages. This advancing pulse is provided by recognition of the minus symbol. The counter is reset or cleared by an output from the load flip-flop 106 when it is reset.`

Upon the iirst count of the debit counter, And gate 39 is enabled through Or gate 122, whereby the delbit data is entered through And gate 30 into theregister 40; Upon the second debit entry being identified by its symbol, the counter M4 is advanced to its second count, whereby Or gate 124 can enable And gate 32 and the second debit item is entered into the register 42.

Upon attaining its second count, the counter 144 also appliesits output to an And gate 148. This And gate is enabled only if a third debit item symbol occurs. yIn accordance Vwith the rules previously mentioned, only two Ydebititems may be written on a line, and therefore upon the occurrence of a third debit item symbol And gate 14S is enabled. lts output is applied to the Or gateA 139, ,which thereupon 4proceeds to reset the load ip-flop 4and set the print flip-nop. At theend of the print' cycle, And gate 110 is again enabled and theV data can again be. entered from the source into lthe registers. If two debits are followed by a credit,`there will be no minus signdseen after the second Vstate 4of counter 144, so 4that a print ,cycle will notbe initiated until afterthe credit Vitem is read.

The creditritem symbol, or signal, from And gate 84'is applied'to an And gate 150. Upon the'occurrence of `tlzre next cloclopulsethe ip-op 152 is set4 by the output of the And gate. This permits Or gate 126 to Aerlable.And' gate 34 so that the following credit item is entered'into the third circulating register 44. Theoutput of .Or gate 126, as' previously explained, isalso applied to And gate 128. Counter 104, which counts the digits, providesAlnrd gate 128 the second required enabling pulse atthe end of the input credit item'. Note that one or twodebit items may precede the credit item on thersame line- Therefore, at the end of the credit item, the print-out cycle is; authorized by llip-op 136.

" `When. an item-count symbol signal, I,` is received, it is applied to And gate 15? from And gate 82 in Figure 4. The output of And gate 153 is applied to a flip-hop 156).

Y This ip-op 'isset and applies its output to an And gate 162. f The second required input to And gate 162 is the output of hip-flop 106, the load flip-flop, when it is set. The output of And gate 162 is applied to an Or gate 126, which, as previously described, Aenables And gate 34v so that "the incoming item data may be entered into the third register 44'.V The outputofitle Or gate 126 is also applied to And gate 128, which,A as previously explaind, is enabled lupon receiving the signal'fron'the"'c`ouhte 1G13, indicative of the end ol the input item word. Thus, the item is printed on a line by itself at the portion of the line which is controlled or allotted to the register 4d.

1n order to further carry out the rules set forthpreviously, a name word must appear alone on aline without any debit or credit items. To insure this, the output of Or gate 113, which receives an output from the counter 121 when in any one of its counting stages other than zero, is applied to an And gate 169. The second required input to this And gate is the output of an Or gate 166. The input to this Or gate is either a minus or plus symbol pulse. Not only does the output of Or gate 166 serve to enable And gate 164 Vto order a print-out, whereby only name Words on any line are obtained, ibut also the output of this Or gate is applied to the clear Or gate 167, which resets or clears the counter 121 to its standby condition.

Another And gate 168 serves the function of insuring that when an item count number' is received following the entry of` one or two debits that those debits are printed out on a line by themselves. Thereafter, the item which follows can be entered on a line by itself and not on the same line with the de bit. This is assured by applying to the And gate 16S as one required input the item symbol pulse and as the second required input output from either stage of the debit counter 144.

From the above description, it should be clear how the rules previously set forth for the format described are carried forth by the logic provided. The item symbol enables recognition of the data which follows, so that suitable logic controlled thereby enables the input of that data to one of the registers, each of which controls a given portion of a line. Thus, the item is entered into a register which eventually will secure the printing out of that item in the proper portion of a line. By further logic, the number of items on a line and the kinds of those items are also controlled in accordance with the format rules previously laid down.

Once the items are entered into the registers, the cornparison operation of the system, with the columns of type appearing under the print-out position, are achieved in well-known manner. It should be noted that when the load Hip-liep 106 is reset, the reset, or zero, output thereof is used to clear the counters 121 and 144 and through And gate 172 to reset the ip-tlops 152 uponthe occurrence of the next clock pulse. Flip-flop 160 is reset by the end input word output of counter 104 through And gate 170. Thus, the apparatus is put in condition for the next cycle of operation.

Once the registers are loaded, the next operation to occur is that of comparing the contents of the registers with the columns of type appearing at the printing-out positions. Apparatus for securing this type of operation is well known. Apreferred arrangement is shown, de.'g scribed, and claimed in an application by these inventors for output printer control system.

In Figure 3, format control is further secured by the format matrix 28,- which is operated by the format-matrixcontro-l relays 26. The format-matrirocontrol relays are shown in Figure 6. The lambda pulse signal, which is received from the And gate in Figure 4, is applied to an, And gate 180. Upon the occurrence of a clock pulse, this And gate output will set a flip-op 182. When this flip-flop is in its set condition, it energizes a relay 184, the coil of which is shown in Figure 6. This relay, in turn, serves to close contacts, not shown, which are disposed within the format matrix 28 tosecure the name format on a line. These contacts are identied'in Figure 7 by a triangular symbol A. Each such Vsymbol on Figure 7. represents a connection of the two` bus-wires er1;l closed within` the symbol. i' i i A'plusor a minus symbol pulse outputV from And gates 84 or. 8,6. is applied VVto anAnd gate 18,6 in FigureC whereby upon the occurrence of the next clock pulse, a ip-op 188 is set and thereby it energizes a relay 190, which controls the closing of contacts (not shown) in the format matrix to insure the item format. These contacts are identified by a circle O in Figure 7.

The item count symbol pulse output from And gate 82 in Figure 4 is applied to And gate 192, the output from which, upon the occurrence of the next clock pulse, sets flip-flop 194. In its set condition, flip-op 194 energizes a relay 196. This secures the closure of contacts (not shown) in the format matrix to insure that the item count format is achieved. These contacts are identified in Figure 7 by a rectangle El Each time an end-print cycle signal is received from the output printer, indicative of the fact that a line of type has been completely printed, all the nip-flops 182, 188, and 194 are reset. Adjacent each one of the relay coils 184, 190, 196 are the symbols which are employed in Figure 7 to identify the contacts which are controlled by that particular relay.

Referring now to Figure 7, there is essentially shown a matrix consisting of column busses and row busses with a pair of normally open contacts existing at each row and column bus intersection. This effectively describes the setup of a crossbar relay which may be employed, if desired. Pairs of the contacts at the row and column bus intersections are closed by energization of the relay shown in Figure 6 having the symbol corresponding to the one shown at the intersection of the busses.

In order to secure the format shown in Figure 2, the name-format relay 184 must close the contacts at the intersections which are designated by the small triangles. There is a correspondence between the row busses and a position for each character forming the contents of each of the three registers. It will thus be seen that by pre. selecting the contacts to be closed in the matrix which connect thyratrons driven from each register and selected ones of the hammer solenoids, the printed out locations of the characters forming words or items may be rearranged. Thus, an inversion of the register contents may be obtained, as well as any required spaces between the items in accordance with the format set forth in Figure 2. A decimal point may always be called for with number items after the cents amount.

Great flexibility is allor-ded, if desired, by bringing out the row and column busses to a plug-board from which connections may be arranged as desired to the various relays actuated by symbols.

As pointed out-previously, the explanation of the iiivention was in connection with a banking operation. It should be apparent that other business practices may be handled just as easily, since deposits and withdrawalsor credits and debits-or deposits and purchases are a common business language, and the symbols may be the same for each. The apparatus described may be readily expanded to handle larger item words by enlarging the size of the registers and counters, as required. More items may be handled by paralleling the logic circuits shown in Figure with similar logic for the additional items in accordance with their particular format rules.

- Accordingly, there has been described and shown herein a novel, useful, and simple arrangement for obtaining the format control of an output printer. 'The arrangement is very economical and flexible and enables the utilization of the same circuitry for any number of different format arrangements.

We claim:

1. A format-control system for printing data derived from a source, said'data consisting of different kinds of items, each kind being identied by a symbol, said printer, having columns of type on a rotating drum peripherf, a plurality of solenoid-actuated print hammers, a printing position at which a line may be printed, and meansr to indicate the type on said drum at said printing position, said format-control system comprising a plurality of storage registers, each of which is assigned to hold items for printing at a different portion of a. line, means responsive tov a symbol from said source identifying items of data from said source to enter said items of said data into dilerent ones of said registers in accordance with predetermined line position assignments, a plurality of means for energizing the solenoids of said print hammers, and means for selectively coupling each of said means for energizing to a different one of said solenoids responsive to the identifying symbol of an item entered into a register to establish the arrangement of said item on a printed line.

2. A format-control system for printing data from a source, said data consisting of different kinds of items, each kind being identiiied by a different symbol, said printer having columns of type on a rotating drum peripehry, a plurality of solenoid-actuated print hammers, a printing position at which a line may be printed, and means to indicate the type on said drum at said printing position, said format-control system comprising a plurality of storage registers each of which is assigned items for printing at a dilerent portion of a line, means for identifying different item symbols, means for entering items of data into different ones of said registers in accordance with prearranged line position assignments responsive to the symbol identification by said means, a plurality of means for energizing the solenoids of said print hammers, and means for establishing the arrangement of an item on a printed line including means for associating different groups of said means for energizing with different ones of said registers, and means for selectively coupling each of said means for energizing to a different one of said print hammer solenoids responsive to the identifying symbol of an item entered into a register.

3. A format-control system for printing data from a source as recited in claim 2 wherein the number of means in said plurality of means for energizing the solenoids of said print hammers is less than the number of solenoidactuated print hammers.

4. A format-control system for printing data from a source, as recited in claim 2, wherein said means for entering items of data into ones of said registers in accordance with prearranged line position assignments includes a separate means for counting each different item symbol identied by said means for identifying, means responsive to the count in each said separate counting means to enable a predetermined one of said registers to receive the item the preceding symbol for which has just been counted, and means responsive to a predetermined count in said separate counting means to prevent further items from being entered into said registers until after the items already present are printed out.

5. A format-control system for printing data as recited in claim 2 wherein said means for selectively coupling each of said means for energizing to a different one of said print-hammer solenoids responsive to the identifying symbol of an item entered into a register includes a plurality of pairs of normally open relay contactsZ means for coupling one contact of a different pair of said relay contacts to a different one of said means for energizing and the other contact to a different one of said printhammer solenoids, and relay means for selectively closing predetermined ones of said pairs of relay contacts.

6. In an output printer of the type having columns of type on a rotating drum periphery, a plurality of solenoid-actuated print hammers, a printing position at which a line may be printed, and means to indicate the type on said drum at said printing position, apparatus lfor controlling the format for printing data from a source, said data consisting of different kinds of items, each kind being identified by a different synibol, said apparatus comprising a plurality of storage registers, each of which is assigned items for printing at a different portion of a line, means for identifying different item symbols,

13 means for entering dierent items of data into preassigned different ones of said registers responsive to symbol identicaton by vsaid means, means for establishing the number of each dierent item entered into said registers,

.means responsive to predetermined numbers of different items established by said means for establishing for preventing further items from being entered into said registers until the items already present are printed out, a plurality of means for energizing the solenoids of said print hammers, and means for establishing the arrangement of an item on a printed line including means for associating different groups of said means for energizing with dierent ones of said registers, and means for coupling in a predetermined manner each group of said means for energizing to a diierent one of said printhammer solenoids responsive to the identifying symbol of the item in the register associated with the group.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

